Original subtitles

Manpei-san's ramen making had finally begun.

Then please taste the soup that I made right away.

It's delicious.

You did it, Manpei-san!

After much trial and error, the soup was finally ready, but...

You said you're going to knead the soup into the noodles, right?

Soup seeps out of the noodles and...

Delicious ramen will be ready to eat before you know it.

Won't the soup become diluted?

You may be right.

And so, Manpei-san decided to boil down the soup and made it into soup extract.

I think this is strong enough.

We can finally make noodles now.

However...

Let's try eating it.

When they tried tasting just a little bit of the uncooked noodles...

It's awful. The noodles are all dry and have a floury taste.

Parboiling won't help this at all.

I'll have to start all over from the dough.

Manpei-san tried different things like adding potato starch

and grated yam to the dough, and thought the noodles were finally ready.

However...

But it lacks firmness and it doesn't have much taste either.

Everything's nixed.

- Huh? - I'm starting over from the beginning.

Manpuku

♫Marumatteru senakani ni morai naki ♫I get infectious weeping looking at your stooped shoulders

♫Haji datte issho ni ♫We'll share the humiliation too

Week 19

We're Moving Forward by 10 and 20 Steps!

♫Hikoukigumo bonyari nagamu ♫Gazing absentmindedly at contrails

♫Kokoro kokoni arazu ♫Here in body, but not in spirit

♫Nenkan totaru moshi shitara ♫If I was to calculate an annual total

♫Tsukiau watashi sugoi? ♫Aren't I amazing for keeping you company?

♫Toboketeru mayuge ni morai warai ♫ I get infectious laughter looking at your comical eyebrows

♫Tere datta nandatte ♫Be it embarrassment or whatever

♫Ganko de mendou de hara mo tatsu kedo ♫Although you're obstinate and troublesome and you make me mad

♫Anata no jounetsu wa ♫Your passion is

♫Atashi no hokori de jiman de kakugo nano ♫My honor, my pride, and my resolve

♫Morai naki morai warai morai ikari ♫Infectious weeping, infectious laughter, infectious anger

♫Moraippaji don to koi! ♫Infectious embarrassment. Bring them on!

♫Seiten mo donten mo hekireki mo ♫Sunny days, cloudy days, thunderous days too

These are the 5 criteria for the new ramen.

One, it has to be tasty.

Two, it has to be cheap.

Three, it has to be convenient.

Four, it has to be nonperishable.

Five, it has to be safe.

I need to go back to the basics and think it over.

In order to make ramen that's ready to eat just by pouring hot water over it,

I thought it was only natural to flavor the dough before it was made into noodles.

But

you can't make the dough if you mix in all kinds of things with flour.

Even if you were able to make the dough, the noodles don't come out well.

In the end, I think it's better to leave the dough alone.

- Make the noodles normally. - Yes.

Make the noodles normally and flavor it with soup extract.

When hot water is poured over it, it dissolves and turns into ramen soup.

I agree.

Well then...

The question is how to flavor that.

Manpei-san, would it be okay if I went out?

I'm stopping by Katsuko Nee-chan's house before going to work.

Seems she wants to talk to me about something.

I'll see you later.

Katsuko Nee-chan.

Katsuko Nee-chan.

It's me, Fukuko.

- You know you're the wife of an artist. - That has nothing to do with anything!

I just don't care for that woman! I don't want her in this house!

She's just here as a model. What are you thinking?

That woman has, how do you say, hostile feelings towards me.

- Onee-chan. - She looked at me and smirked while posing.

- You're overreacting. - But it's true.

What's going on, Katsuko Nee-chan and Tadahiko-san? It unusual to see you two arguing.

Fuku-chan.

The model who's been coming here is making eyes at Tadahiko-san.

- Making eyes?! - She's doing no such thing.

You just haven't noticed.

She even glared at me once.

Why does it have to be her? Can't you get someone else?

Hideko has a charm that other model's don't have.

- Huh? - Hideko?!

She stirs up my creative urge.

- Hideko... - Oh, where's Mom?

Isn't Taka-chan here?

Mother accompanied Taka to the hospital to get her checkup.

Are you addressing her casually? Dear!

- What difference does that... - Hello.

- She's here. - The model?

- I'll go. - Are you planning to turn her away?

Then I'll go. I'll go get the door.

- Yes? - Oh...

I'm Fukuko, Tadahiko-san's sister-in-law.

Tadahiko-san's kinda tied up right now.

Is that so. I'm Kinouchi Hideko. Nice to meet you.

I didn't know Madam had a younger sister.

Actually, we had another older sister too.

- She passed away 17 years ago. - I'm sorry to hear that.

But sorrow gives depth to our life, you know.

Do you model for a lot of artists?

Yes. When I'm working for dull artists, it gets boring, but I just love Tadahiko Sensei.

What!

Um...

When you say you love him...

When I say love, I mean love. What else is there?

Yes, but Tadahiko-san has a family...

Family?

Artists shouldn't be tied down to things like family.

- Can I get changed? - Oh...yes...

Sorry.

Anyway, you keep out of my work.

- You let her into the studio? - But she just went in on her own...

You must have sensed it right away too, Fukuko, that the woman's dangerous.

- That... - Didn't you sense it? - Katsuko.

Sensei, you can come in. I'm ready.

I've had enough of this nonsense.

Fuku-chan.

Tadahiko-san's going to be led astray.

- Led astray~?! - You heard him call her Hideko, didn't you?

He never addressed his other models so casually.

That's right. It's about time for me to go to work.

Fukuko, please don't leave me alone.

But... I don't think I can help you...

"Tadahiko Sensei has a family," she said.

Huh?

Fukuko-san was perturbed when I told her that I loved Sensei.

Stop saying things like that to cause trouble, Hideko.

Okay. Go ahead.

I'm so worried I can't do anything.

All right.

- Hello. - Oh, Fuku-chan. - Fuku-chan.

Oh my goodness. Mom. And Taka-chan.

We went to the hospital today.

They said my baby's growing well. When I heard that, I wasn't feeling so irritated any more.

- That's good to hear. Here's your hot tea. - Thank you.

- Here you go. - Thank you.

I just came from Katsuko Nee-chan's house. I didn't know what to do.

It's about the model, right? I just don't care anymore.

Mom's just taking it too seriously.

No! I took her to be a mischiefmaker.

Artists shouldn't be tied down to things like family.

She's off the wall, or should I say progressive. Anyway, she's the type who lives outside the box.

- That's good. - No, it isn't. - Sorry.

- And so your sister's troubled? - She's feeling irritated.

Since her husband and this model are cooped up in the studio by themselves.

Ah~ It's tough being an artist's wife, isn't it?

In that respect, I have no worries. I have him locked up in the kitchen all day.

Huh? Am I an animal in a cage?

I'm more worried about Fukuko than Katsuko.

That's all Grandma talks about.

Is Manpei-san still making ramen?

- That goes without saying. - Shouldn't he quit already?

The nasty taste of that uncooked noodle. I can still taste it in my mouth.

We're not flavoring the noodle anymore.

- Manpei-san said he's going to start from the beginning again. - What! From the beginning?!

- How is he going to get anywhere doing that! - Is Uncle Manpei struggling?

Sure he's struggling. He struggles and struggles, and finds the answer.

But if that doesn't work, he discards that idea and goes back to the drawing board.

- That's the important thing. - That's a good point.

- Please refrain from saying irresponsible things. - Sorry.

I'm sorry. He gets carried away easily.

That's too bad because looks-wise, you're cool, Master.

That's just looks-wise.

- Shinobu-chan, that's a bit harsh... - Isn't that the truth? - Yes.

Today, I consulted with Sensei.

He said making ramen that's ready to eat just by pouring hot water over it

would be impossible.

Which Sensei is that?

The doctor that I'm seeing

What? What would an OB/GYN doctor know!

I'm home.

I'm back.

I'm going to soak this in soup extract and let it absorb the flavor.

- Let it absorb... - Yes. 10 minutes for now.

Okay, it's been 10 minutes.

All right.

- I'm pouring the hot water. - Okay.

- The noodles are all mushy. - There's no texture or anything.

- Isn't the flavor too strong? - Yeah. It's a failure.

Which means we took one step forward, right?

Right?

- Yeah. - Okay, let's think of our next move, Manpei-san.